REAWAKENING TO LIFE

So my day was pretty great in comparison.

I have a lot of um… fun shooting cycling races. I didn’t know how thick the tension would be when I first started shooting, but seeing racers whip around 90 degree bends on an outward sloping road lends itself to pretty dramatic scenes. Of course, I hope no one gets hurt in all this – on every crash I captured, everyone got up. I will be posting more ‘positive’ images of the races pretty soon on my event website, so hopefully I can expand to non-mainstream sports like this. I am investigating motocross, cyclocross, and mountain bike races for upcoming events.

I am moving into a much bigger place next year, and with that comes a BIGGER basement. I am planning on setting up a darkroom and silkscreening studio, with the intention of it being some sort of co-op for people looking for access to such equipment at a decent price. It might take a bit of finagling <sp>, but I am really excited to get it started. I have had a few people already ask about it, and I don’t think it would take much $$$ to operate since most of the overhead is taken care of already.

Heck! I might even have time to develop some film for your prying eyes to see!

My past excursion was up to the fine countryside of New Hampshire with the cycling club from PSU. It was a crazy experience, since it was 10 hours EACH WAY. We stopped once on the way home, which turned out to be a bad thing. My hamstring was so sore from the mountain biking and sitting cramped up in a van, my butt was extremely angry with me. It was as hard as a rock Monday, which wouldn’t be a bad thing… it just involved a lot of pain.

I have been spending a lot of time in my head lately. It has been really good to reflect on these past few months, and what I am hoping to see in the next few. I am surprised at the ‘freshness’ I now see State College with – since I have admitted to staying and relaxing and stopped lusting after people’s situations in other places, I have become… happy.

Thats’s right. Not that I am becoming complacent with my situation or becoming uninspired or saying ‘all is right with the world,’ but simply saying, “Yes. This is where I am supposed to be right here, right now.” I haven’t given up on my dreams of Africa and NYC or trying to get to all seven continents, but I am content to say that God has me tight, and he knows my heart.

These are the simple things that I have forgotten over the past few years. The simple love that is made so available to us, we often try to make it so much more complicated than it really is. Simply, so sweetly simply, we are loved, and he has us right where he wants us.

Bike race + fast camera + fast lens = 1600 images to sort through. Digital is great (for this purpose).

So I have been following the PSU cycling club around the east coast on the weekends. The past one in Philly was great. Rain on Saturday and high winds on Sunday. Lots of crashes on Saturday in the criterium, which is an aggressive eight city block circuit. If you’re lucky, you might see a few.

I have processed a lot more concerning church since last post, and this website has helped me out immensely. I was like, wow, this is exactly what I am feeling and can highly relate to this. Agh! The great and wonderful news… Life has become so enjoyable and I feel like I am getting back a lot surrendered vision/passion. Even in simply traveling with the cycling team and taking images and riding and going to work and watching Lost with a few friends… all these things have become so enjoyable again. I don’t feel guilty doing them anymore.

God has already paid the price of my guilt, so why live under it? No more rain clouds here and sunny unreachable horizons there.

Ah, yes…. the first post with an image from my Canon Mark II and 24-70mm lens. This was a digital tirade I went on one late night in January. I couldn’t feel my stiff frozen fingers when I finally made it back to the car.

Some daily affirmations: I am who you say I am, and I do whatever I see you doing. I follow you as you convict and lead me, and I speak with you in mind. I am and you are, and we walk together. I remember that you never left me before, and you will never leave me ahead, and I live in constant and confident love.